THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT JAPAN

I have regularly reported on King Kamehameha Day, and here is one from five years ago. Today is a state holiday, but the annual Saturday floral parade has been cancelled, and there is discouragement about being at the statue when leis are draped over King Kamehameha on Friday. Best I can find is that the local Olelo channel 53 will be showing this event from 12:30-1:30 today.

How many people have died from COVID-19?

Between seven million and 13 million people have died of Covid, according to an analysis by The Economist magazine. The pace has been speeding up, too: More people have already died in 2021 than did in all of 2020.

The Worldometer site I have been using indicates today that 3.8 million have perished. The Johns Hopkins data used by many also says 3.8 million deaths. Where are most of the still unreported deaths? Africa (second from the right) and especially Asia (right-most graph), which includes the who region centered in India:

Read the Economist article.

Vaccination rates are lagging in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

One of the problems cropping up is that the Chinese Sinovac vaccine appears to be far less than effective than the American versions, which are in the mid-90 percentage. Even the Russian Sputnik is at 90%. About Sinovac:

The Sinovac study was to look at how the vaccine works against the entire range of clinical symptoms, from mild infections to severe ones, including death. The efficacy data of about 50% is for very mild disease, requiring no treatment. For infections requiring some medical intervention, it’s about 84% and for moderate-to-severe Covid cases, it’s 100%.

However, even the Chinese vaccine is 100% effective against deaths, so their vaccine cannot be blamed for the unaccounted for deaths in certain regions of the world.

My roots are in Japan, so I have a special fondness for that country. I've landed there more a hundred times and have annually used Japan Rail Pass, usually during Cherry Blossom and Fall Color periods, to see just about everything I would want. Here is what I have learned through the years:

Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world at 85.03, 88.09 for women and 81.91 for men.

Hong Kong, which is part of China is a bit higher at 85.29.
Macao, China, is 84.68.
Next, Switzerland 84.25.
Then, Singapore 84.25.
Way down at #46 is the USA at 79.11.
Hawaii is the state with the highest life expectancy.
At one time, a Japanese male in Hawaii lived longer than a Japanese male in Japan. Not sure if this is true today.
Half a dozen African countries are the lowest at 54-55.

Japan is #185 in birthrate at 1.36.

Even lower is #200 South Korea with 0.918 and #196 Singapore at 1.140
#149 China 1.696
#145 USA 1.705
#1 Niger 6.8

Tokyo has the largest metropolis population at 37.4 million.

#2 is Delhi with 28.5 million
#3 is Shanghai at 25.6 million.
#11 is New York City at 18.8 million.

Japan is #1 in patents applied and granted.
University of Tokyo is the #1 university in Asia, with 17 prime ministers as graduates.

Of course, UofT is anywhere from #20-#50 depending, on who did the study.
In another ranking:

#21 Peking University (China)
#22 KAIST (South Korea)
#27 Tsinghua University (China)
#34 Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
#41 Tokyo University

The USA dominates with the best universities in every survey.

Difficult to explain, but read this article. Those are U.S. cities stuck into the Tokyo metropolis, which is the world's wealthiest, with a Gross Domestic Product of $1.52 trillion, beating New York City, at a mere $0.31 trillion. The poorest is said to be Kinsasha, Congo, with a GDP of $55 billion where many residents live on less than $1/day. The most expensive city to live in is Singapore. A Toyota Prius sells for $150,000. A loaf of bread there costs $3.36, but only goes for $0.91 in Mumbai, India.

Japan is #185 in the world obesity ranking. Best is Vietnam at #191:

The top ten are all islands of the Pacific,with Nauru at #1.
The USA is #12, The average person in the USA consumes 3770 calories/day.

Japan is #71 in alcohol consumption.

#1 Moldova 15.2 liters/capita/year
#5 Germany 13.4
#11 Russia 11.7
#38 South Korea 10.2
#45 U.S. 9.8
#71 Japan 8
#82 China 7.2
#147 Singapore 2
#189 Somalia 0

It all starts with the children:

Finally, how Japan is better:

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